Betsy Glans

Vice President, Student Exchanges

As Vice President in IIE's Department of Student Exchanges, Betsy Glans has responsibility for the U.S. Student Programs as well as Departmental financial management. Ms. Glans works closely with Dr. Ellen McKey, her co-Vice President in the Department who supervises the foreign student programs. The Department of Student Exchanges oversees IIE's administration of the Fulbright Student Program, the Brazil Scientific Mobility Program, the National Security Education Program, other ECA and privately funded activities. The Department's programs offer opportunities for foreign and U.S. students to pursue undergraduate, graduate and non-degree study around the world. In addition to exchange programs, Ms. Glans oversees the Moscow and Kyiv Offices of the Fulbright Representative. The Department's programs have expanded considerably in the last ten years and currently have over 9,000 participants annually with budgets in excess of $200 million.

Ms. Glans has worked at IIE in different capacities and times since 1987. From 1994-1997 she was the World Area Manager for East Asia & Pacific in the Foreign Fulbright Programs Division. After nine years of living, working and studying in Singapore and Australia, she returned to IIE to serve as the Director of Program Planning and Budget for the Department of Student Exchanges. Her first position at IIE in 1987 was working with the Foreign Language Teaching Assistant program. From there she went on to work at Columbia University's Center for U.S.-China Arts Exchange and assisted in some of the early exchanges of influential artists from China which gave them their first exposure to culture outside of the PRC.

Ms. Glans has a Master's in Public Administration from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs with a focus on nonprofit management. As part of that degree, in 1990-91, she spent a year pursuing graduate study in Mandarin Chinese at the newly opened Johns Hopkins University/Nanjing University Center for U.S. and Chinese Studies. More recently, while living in Australia, Ms. Glans pursued a Master's degree in Educational Administration at the University of New South Wales. In addition, she holds a bachelor degree in Chinese Studies from Wellesley College. Upon graduation, she won an exchange scholarship from Wellesley and spent two years studying in the People's Republic of China while also teaching English in both Beijing and Shanghai.